Google Docs

I was already signed up when I went to docs.google.com so I pasted an article from digg.com about a breath test for lung cancer. Changing the font, font size, and background color were easy and very similar to Microsoft Word. I shared it with a friend and that was easy, too. I will recommend Google Docs to students who use our Library computers because the computers don't have Microsoft Office. Sometimes the labs are closed, so Google Docs will make our Library computers much more useful. I'm very impressed with Google Docs and I'm sure I will use it in the future.

LibWorm

LibWorm was easy to access and use. I tried RDA first with results unrelated to cataloging so I changed to Resource Description and Access (any words) with much better results. Resource Description and Access (all words) was even better, but exact phrase was the best. Categories, Subjects, and Tags did not help me with RDA, but they might be good for browsing more generally. When I searched Moffett Library as a phrase, a blog posting by Adam Beatty about a NTRLS Certified Library Computer Technologist class held at Moffett Library was the only result. I think LibWorm would be extremely useful for quality research on library topics. I intend to use it in the future.

LibraryThing

Signing up with LibraryThing was easy and I added several books while I was at work. I'll have to be at home when I add more so there will be more detail. I intend to use this tool for my home library since it seems very helpful. I think the University Library is too large to use Library Thing but a small library might find it useful. ThingLang, ISBN Check, and MARCThing were hard to find until I looked at another 23 Things blog. The Thingology blog on LibraryThing can be searched, so I found them there. I've used an ISBN checker to get the 10 or 13 digit ISBN so I'm glad it is used on LibraryThing. ThingLang and MARCThing seem very helpful and I'm impressed by Tim's site.

Digg

I watched the helpful video: Inside//Out: Digg.com video and went to digg.com to explore. I looked at 3 articles:
More ‘Evidence’ of Intelligent Design Shot Down by Science, Hemcrete®: Carbon Negative Hemp Walls, and
Mike Enzi, Gang Of Six Republican, Admits He's Simply Blocking Health Care Reform. It required extra clicks and some of the Top in all Topics humor wasn't for me, but I did find interesting articles there. It is useful for finding information on specific subjects.

Delicious

Signing up for Delicious was easy, so I imported my Favorites. Since there were 284, it took a minute or two. My page is http://delicious.com/terridecker I'm not sure I'll keep the delicious toolbar because it takes extra room on my browser, but I haven't tried to access it from a different computer. It will be very helpful to have my favorites available when I'm at the Reference Desk. I'll try that next week.

Tagging

Tagging would very useful alongside the controlled vocabulary in OPACs. Many Library of Congress subject headings are outdated and obscure to the average user. Since we want people to find our material, tags from librarians and users would add search terms in popular language.

Twitter

The twitter account was easy to set up and I'm following Jeremy Piven, Ellen DeGeneres and Asteroid Watch. The how-to video in the help section was helpful. I enjoyed hearing about Twitter after the Iranian presidential election. I think it was a great tool for the people of Iran so the rest of the world could find out what was happening there.